Speaking and Language: Defence of Poetry

4 out of 5

Gerry LaFemina – Oct 05, 2015

More a critique of linguistics than a defense of poetry, Goodman's book is smart, a little too self-referential for its own good (Goodman's favorite thinker may be Paul Goodman), and open to a lot of critiques itself. Still, there are some gems about poetry among these sentences, though I want more. More a critique of linguistics than a defense of poetry, Goodman's book is smart, a little too self-referential for its own good (Goodman's favorite thinker may be Paul Goodman), and open to a lot of critiques itself. Still, there are some gems about poetry among these sentences, though I want more.

5 out of 5

Keight – Jan 14, 2015

I can’t remember how this book arrived on my to-read list, but I went through the trouble of tracking down a used copy, so it must have been a convincing recommendation. The “Defense of Poetry” subtitle is largely a tease — a reference to other works with similar titles that Goodman was apparently thinking about when he wrote this. Most of the book is about linguistics and speech, and it’s not uninteresting, but I still struggled to get immersed in the ideas presented. Eventually he proceeds to l I can’t remember how this book arrived on my to-read list, but I went through the trouble of tracking down a used copy, so it must have been a convincing recommendation. The “Defense of Poetry” subtitle is largely a tease — a reference to other works with similar titles that Goodman was apparently thinking about when he wrote this. Most of the book is about linguistics and speech, and it’s not uninteresting, but I still struggled to get immersed in the ideas presented. Eventually he proceeds to looking at language in literature (not just poetry), and I found a little more to latch on to there, but only in disparate pieces. Strangely Goodman himself explained exactly my experience in reading his book when he speaks of Hemingway’s grammatically passive style and declares, “A disadvantage is that it can rapidly become boring, as Hemingway often is, because it is hard to make the bits add up and increasingly there is resistance to taking the bits in.” Link to this review on my booklog